Sunday, April 26, 2015

DEA Capers

Michele
Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, recently told
Attorney General Eric Holder that she intended to retire next month, ending a
35-year tenure at the agency. This couldn’t have come as a big surprise to
officials, as she has recently faced numerous accusations of mismanagement. Her
looming departure, after an eight year reign at the DEA, comes on the heels of
a hearing last week in which lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee
expressed outrage at her handling of reports that DEA agents stationed in Columbia had participated in sex parties with prostitutes paid for by drug cartels.

I mean,
when in Columbia, do as the Columbians do, right?

Oh.
Perhaps the lawmakers think that drug
enforcement agents getting free hookers from
drugcartels might be a conflict of interest. Maybe they are worried
that said agents will be bought off, or at the very least much less zealous in
their drug enforcement activities. Do you think?

The
seven agents who admitted to the accusations were given suspensions of two to
ten days. Under stern questioning
from the House panel, Leonhart stated that she had been powerless to take more
aggressive action such as firing the agents or revoking their security
clearances.

In a
statement, Holder called Leonhart a “trailblazer for equality” and a “good
friend.”

Daily Trivia Quiz Answer

Today's Answer: Andrew Jackson. ("Poll" got so worked up before the service he apparently had to be removed from the premises, as he was cussing long and loud).

Q) What words appear on the front of the penny, nickel, dime and quarter, alongside the likeness of presidents?

A) "Liberty" and "In God We Trust"

An Ode To Life

Appreciate all you have, as it- and you- will soon be gone. Leave no heartfelt words unspoken, no sweet gesture incomplete, no act of love undone. Love your spouse with passion and abandon, your kids with patience and understanding but also a firm guidance. Love also the truth, no matter how hard. If pursued by enough people with enough courage, it really will set us free.

And don't forget, we didn't ask to be born. We didn't create ourselves. We are not gods. There is a higher power.

Fireworks of the Mind

Write It Up

Whence Shall Come Another?

True Then, True Now

"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."- Winston Churchill

Time Well Wasted

The power lies within your hands To do with what you may But the hourglass is filled with sands Of endless yesterdays